***
Under the city of Quanzhou, the Qin army carried ladders and rushed towards the top of the city in one fell swoop. The gongs and drums roared, and the sound of killing reached the sky.
Qu Shisi personally climbed up the city wall holding a sword to boost morale. Rocks and logs from the top of the city wall rumbled down to block the dark mass of Qin troops below the city.
Qin Zuoming had fought with Qin Liangyu for many years and organized a fierce and orderly attack. In order to quickly capture Quanzhou and cut off Jiao Lian of Yongzhou, the Qin army risked their lives and rushed to the top of the city again and again, braving arrows and stones. The Xiangjiang River below the city was dyed dark red with blood, and corpses filled the city walls.
During the fierce attack of the Qin army, the morale of the Quanzhou defenders became lower and lower. The Qin army threw a string of thunder bombs on the top of the city, causing Quanzhou to be on the verge of collapse.
Amid the locust-like rain of arrows and fierce explosions, a soldier hurried over and reported to Qu Shisi on the top of the city wall that Gu Xiancheng had made unusual movements.
Qu Shisi was horrified and ordered Bai Gui to defend the north of the city. He then hurried to the west of the city where Gu Xiancheng was in charge of defending. As expected, he saw Gu Xiancheng and his troops preparing to escape the city.
Fortunately, Qu Shisi arrived in time. He called Gu Xiancheng into the gate tower alone and said to him, "Gu Xiancheng, I know what you are thinking. I would like to have a few sincere words with you today. You missed an opportunity in southern Jiangxi. Otherwise, you would have been a duke and your family would have been prosperous for generations.
Now, this is your last chance. If Guangxi is saved, you can still enjoy wealth and glory. If Guangxi cannot be saved, as the saying goes, all the land under heaven belongs to the king, and all the people under heaven are his subjects. Even if you become a rat, you will have nowhere to hide.
If you think about it carefully, you should know that in the whole Guangxi, anyone can surrender, but you can’t. Anyone can escape, but you can’t. If you escape today, you will have nowhere to escape tomorrow.”
Qu Shisi's words were indeed heartbreaking. Gu Xiancheng felt mixed emotions after hearing this, and his face was as red as a dyeing factory. He had done too many bad things, and he was a wanted criminal that Qin Mu wanted to get rid of as soon as possible.
At the banks of the Huo River, the Qin army was still emphasizing this point and encouraging his soldiers, saying that whoever took his head would be promoted.
Qu Shisi struck while the iron was hot and continued, "Let's take a step back. Even if you really think you can still escape, why not give it a try? Maybe you can become a noble for generations. If the whole state can't be defended, you can just go up the mountain and become a bandit. At least you won't regret it then, because you have tried your best."
After a struggle between heaven and man, Gu Xiancheng clasped his fists and said, "Okay, I will listen to Minister Qu. This time we will fight!"
Gu Xiancheng gave up the idea of escaping and led his army to defend the West City. He personally fought on the front line with a knife in hand. Even though his left arm was injured by the Qin army's thunder bomb, he still refused to leave the city.
His bravery boosted morale, and Xicheng was finally secured. Moreover, the arrows of his men were coated with poison, causing heavy casualties to the Qin army.
Qin Zuoming had to change his attack plan. He launched a feint attack on the west city defended by Gu Xiancheng, and then concentrated his forces to attack the north city.
boom!
With a fierce explosion, the Ming army on the top of the city was blown down. Fang Jian took the opportunity to climb over the battlement and land on the top of the city. With a whistling sound, a powerful arrow shot past his cheek, almost killing him.
"Kill!" His men swung their swords angrily, the blade light was like a rainbow, and chopped off half of the head of a defender who was rushing over. The white skull, the seeping brain matter, and the gushing blood dyed the top of the city wall red.
His comrade Lian Sanjiang behind him also roared, "Those who resist will die!" He quickly climbed to the top of the city wall and fought side by side with Fang Jian, struggling to kill off several defenders who rushed up, trying desperately to keep this part of the city wall so that subsequent troops could climb up the city.
The chief general of the defending army, Bai Gui, personally led his personal soldiers to rush over, swinging his long-handled broadsword like thunder and lightning. Bang! Lian Sanjiang's broadsword was chopped away by Bai Gui. Fang Jian exclaimed, swung his sword forward, and chopped at Bai Gui with all his strength.
Bai Gui stepped back with his right foot, and instead of retreating, he moved forward, and retracted the handle of his sword. The sword was raised up like lightning, and there was another clang. Sparks flew, and the sound of metal clashing rang out. Fang Jian's sword was shaken away. At this time, the personal soldiers around Bai Gui rushed up and hit Fang Jian on the head with the sword.
"Be careful!" Lian Sanjiang behind him shouted, but Fang Jian only had time to dodge his head, and his left arm was hit and blood spurted out, causing him to feel heartbroken and lung-broken.
"Retreat quickly!" Lian Sanjiang stepped forward to block Fang Jian, whose face was twisted with pain, and helped him retreat. When they reached the ladder, Fang Jian, who was dizzy due to the intense pain, turned over and went down the city first under Lian Sanjiang's desperate urging. Lian Sanjiang, who was behind him, had no chance to retreat under the siege of Bai Gui and his personal soldiers.
The fighting in Quanzhou City reached a fever pitch. One side was trying to cut off the retreat of Jiao Lian's army, while the other side was trying to guard the gateway to Guangxi. Neither side gave in, and the fighting was fierce on the city walls.
Qin Zuoming did not expect that the defenders, encouraged by Qu Shisi, could hold on and not collapse. After a day of fierce fighting, he suffered nearly 300 casualties.
The most hated one was Gu Xiancheng's poison arrows, which was the main reason for the heavy casualties of the Qin army. Qin Zuoming was forced to temporarily give up the strong attack and choose to send people to Yongzhou to pull heavy artillery as soon as possible.
Ma Liuliang in the south was decisive and executed the captured Longzhou local governor Zhao Youchang, and then ordered the soldiers to take Zhao Youchang's head to the surrounding local states and counties.
The ferocious head was thrown in front of the chieftains. There were two choices. One, go to Longzhou and obey orders. It would be good for you. Two, do the same as Zhao Youchang. It is best to prepare the lime yourself. As for why you prepare the lime, you can figure it out yourself.
Tang Yue began to implement the policy of converting the natives into officials and distributing land in Longzhou. In just a few days, the natives who were given land and money and grain abandoned the Zhao family and supported Tang Yue and his men.
The policy of converting native peoples into officials, which was originally thought to be very difficult, unexpectedly went surprisingly smoothly in Longzhou.
Tang Yue studied the reasons in detail and found that this was a historical necessity. He also wrote down his observations in a memorial and submitted it to the Nanjing court as a reference for the court to implement the policy of converting natives into officials in the future.
During the Ming Dynasty, most of Guangxi was governed by officials sent by the imperial court, and the areas governed by chieftains were mainly mountainous areas near Jiaozhi, Yunnan, and Guizhou.
After the mid-Ming Dynasty, due to the continuous decline of the Ming court's control, these chieftains became increasingly corrupt and reactionary. Some local officials became lawless and dominant local emperors. Their power and influence continued to expand, their lives became increasingly extravagant, and they were violent and unscrupulous.
Having lost all restraint, they savagely oppressed and cruelly exploited the local people under their rule in order to satisfy their own selfish desires. Moreover, in order to expand their own territory and seek greater rights and interests, they constantly harassed neighboring chieftains and killed each other, making it difficult for the local people to live in peace.
Under such cruel exploitation, coupled with increasingly frequent exchanges with the outside world, and after comparison with the outside world, the corrupt and backward chieftain system has become unbearable for the local natives, and their desire to transform from a semi-slave life to self-cultivating farmers has become increasingly strong.
This kind of historical inevitability was the reason why Tang Yue’s attempt to reform the native system in Longzhou was unexpectedly successful.
Gaining the support of the natives of Longzhou made Ma Liuliang and his men feel like fish in water.
At first, those chieftains were unwilling to obey the order and go to Longzhou. Under the leadership of the natives of Longzhou, Ma Liuliang once again attacked Jiangzhou in the east with lightning speed and chopped off the head of Long Shi, the native governor of Jiangzhou.
The deterrent effect was naturally doubled. The chieftains who were originally reluctant were finally afraid. First, the weak local inspectors could not stand it and came to Longzhou to await orders. Then, the local county magistrates and local prefects came one after another in a chain reaction.
Finally, Zhao Kezhuang, the local governor of Lian Siming, could no longer hold on when he saw that the surrounding small chieftains had all defected to the Qin army.
Ma Liuliang's tactic of "killing two to warn a hundred" worked wonders. Not only did he not encounter much resistance, he also quickly organized an army of more than 4,000 chieftain servants and then marched towards Nanning Prefecture.
Now the attention of Emperor Yongli and his ministers were all attracted to the north by Liu Tichun and his men. Ma Liuliang suddenly appeared from behind like a god descending from the sky, which was something they had never expected.
Nanning prefect Li Jing and general Peng Chao then reported urgently, thinking that it was a rebellion by the natives. It was not until Ma Liuliang and his men arrived forty miles away from Nanning city that they confirmed that there were actually three thousand Qin troops among them, plus the natives, a total of seven thousand troops.
Oh my God, where did this Qin army come from? How is this possible? How is this possible
Li Jing and Peng Chao were terrified and hurriedly sent people to Wuzhou to report the situation and also sent people everywhere to ask for reinforcements.
But Wuzhou is not close to Nanning, is it still too late
*****************************
ps: It's the 27th, and the monthly ticket war has begun again and it's a life-and-death battle. Brothers and sisters, please vote for us with your monthly tickets to support us. I bow my head in gratitude!
Please support me with monthly tickets! (To be continued...)
...